DEFENCE

Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles

Adam Ingram: I am pleased to be able to announce that we will be buying 64 Tomahawk land attack missiles from the United States under the terms of a foreign military sales case. These are conventionally armed land attack missiles. These new missiles will be to higher—Block IV—specification than our existing Block III missiles. As such, they will provide the ability to retarget or abort a mission in flight and will also provide battle damage indication. They will be capable of being fired from our current Trafalgar Class submarines as well as from our new Astute Class submarines when they enter service.
	This decision shows our continued commitment to enabling precision attack at long range against selected targets.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Discretionary Social Fund

John Spellar: I am pleased to announce that the Northern Ireland discretionary social fund budget for 2004–05 will be £58.25 million; £12.64 million will be allocated to grants, £45.51 million to loans and £0.1 million will be held as a contingency reserve. The new allocations represent an increase of £1.65 million over the initial gross budget set at April 2004. This increase will be funded through higher loan recoveries, plus an increase in net treasury funding of £0.94 million for this year. This £0.94 million is the second of three annual increases from a £8.2 million boost for the discretionary social fund announced in the autumn 2002 pre-Budget report.
	The community care grant budget has been increased by £0.94 million to £12.64 million. This will provide more help to customers, in particular families with children and the disabled.
	The loans budget has been increased to £45.51 million, an increase of £0.71 million on the initial 2003–04 loans budget. To improve the fairness of the scheme, budgets will be allocated in a way that will over time achieve greater consistency of outcome for customers wherever they live.
	Details of the budget allocations, together with a note explaining the basis on which they have been made, have been placed in the House of Commons Library today.

Youth Justice Agency

John Spellar: I have placed copies of the Youth Justice Agency's Corporate Plan for 2004–07 and Business Plan for 2004–05 in the Libraries of both Houses.
	Business Plan contains eight key performance targets I have set for the Service for 2004–05. These are:
	Contribute towards the development and publication of an NIO Public Service Agreement target to reduce the reconviction rate for all offenders (compared to a predicted rate for Northern Ireland).
	During term-time, 95 per cent. of children in the Juvenile Justice Centre will receive 20 hours a week of education and training.
	No escapes from the Juvenile Justice Centre.
	Over the year no more than 3 per cent. of the total new admissions to the Juvenile Justice Centre should be non-accidentally injured.
	Over the year no more than 2 per cent. of the total members of staff should be non-accidentally injured while engaged in the work of the Agency.
	No members of the public should be non-accidentally injured on Agency premises.
	Deliver at least 70 per cent. of the planned training days specified in the Corporate Training Priorities Plan for 2004–05.
	Expenditure is within budget allocated.

CABINET OFFICE

Election Guidance

Douglas Alexander: The Government have today issued guidance to civil servants on the principles which they should observe in relation to the conduct of Government business in the period before the forthcoming elections to the European Parliament, Greater London Authority and to local authorities in England and Wales.
	The guidance stresses that civil servants should conduct themselves in accordance with the civil service code and is based on the need to maintain the political impartiality of the civil service and the need to ensure that public resources are not used for party political purposes.
	The guidance will come into force on Thursday 20 May 2004, ahead of the elections on Thursday 10 June 2004.
	Copies of the guidance have been placed in the Library.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Sustainable Development

Margaret Beckett: I am delighted to announce that the consultation "Taking it on: Developing UK Sustainable Development Strategy" was launched today.
	The UK Government, together with the Scottish Executive, the Welsh Assembly Government and Northern Ireland are consulting to develop new sustainable strategy for the UK. The consultation will include local and regional events and an online consultation facility, and will provide a strong basis for renewed action to deliver sustainable development.
	The consultation will close on 31 July. We aim to publish the new UK strategic framework, and the UK Government's strategy, in spring 2005.
	The consultation document will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses, and is also available on the UK Government's sustainable development website.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Child Support

Andrew Smith: The new arrangements for child support came into operation for new cases and some linked old scheme cases from 3 March 2003. Progress has been slower than anticipated, chiefly due to problems with the new computer and telephony systems. However, over the course of the first year of operation of the new scheme, progress in performance has grown steadily. For example, more than a third of all maintenance calculations and over 45 per cent. of all first payments were made in the latest quarter. Further improvement is expected.
	The number of cases cleared in the final quarter rose above 50,000 taking the total number of clearances (calculations and closures) to over 150,000. The ratio of cases reaching calculation compared to those that closed continued to be 6:4 to the year's end, comparing favourably with the ratio of 4:6 under the old scheme.
	Technical issues continue to preclude reliable figures on compliance and throughput for the latest quarter. The Department continues to retain around 15–20 per cent. of each monthly payment due to EDS, the service provider, due to the continuing problems with the computer and telephony systems. A special exercise is being undertaken to test accuracy to the year-end.
	Average weekly child support maintenance payments to parents with care are shown below. Figures are for March 2004 only and are calculated as the total amount received and allocated divided by the number of cases.
	
		
			  1 Qualifying Child 2 Qualifying Children 3 Qualifying Children 
		
		
			 Average WeeklyPayment £34.25 £48.84 £53.91 
		
	
	
		Summary of Agency Performance to March 2004
		
			 Agency Performance Quarter 1Mar–Jun 2003 Quarter 2Jul–Sep 2003 Quarter 3Oct–Dec 2003 Quarter 4Jan–Mar 2004 Scheme toMar 2004 
		
		
			 Applications received 73,582 78,982 85,306 83,652 321,522 
			 Applications cleared 12,648 38,583 49,453 (1)51,876 (1)152,560 
			   of which:Maintenance Calculations 6,671 23,857 29,672 (1)31,229 (1)91,429 
			 Closures(2) 5,977 14,726 19,781 (1)20,647 (1)61,131 
			 First payments made through the Agency 461 5,164 11,473 14,017 31,115 
			 First Child Maintenance Premium payments made 77 3,314 6,173 7,484 17,048 
		
	
	
		
			 Agency Performance(March 2003 to June 2003) March 2003 April 2003 May 2003 June 2003 Total inQuarter 
		
		
			 Applications Received 3,444 25,228 19,951 24,959 73,582 
			 Applications Cleared 43 1,616 3,441 7,548 12,648 
			   of which:Maintenance Calculations 10 721 1,810 4,130 6,671 
			 Closures(2) 33 895 1,631 3,418 5,977 
			 First payments made through the Agency 136 for 1st 3 months(3) 325 461 
			 First Child Maintenance Premium payments made 17 for 1st 3 months(3) 60 77 
		
	
	
		
			 Agency Performance(July 2003 to September 2003) July 2003 August 2003 September 2003 Total inQuarter Scheme toSeptember 2003 
		
		
			 Applications Received 28,897 23,761 26,324 78,982 152,564 
			 Applications Cleared 10,526 11,923 16,134 38,583 51,231 
			   of which:Maintenance Calculations 6,922 7,199 9,736 23,857 30,528 
			 Closures(2) 3,604 4,724 6,398 14,726 20,703 
			 First Payment made through the Agency 1,032 1,752 2,380 5,164 5,625 
			 First Child Maintenance Premium payments made 267 1,596 1,451 3,314 3,391 
		
	
	
		
			 Agency Performance(October 2003 to December 2003) October 2003 November 2003 December 2003 Total inQuarter Scheme toDecember 2003 
		
		
			 Applications Received 35,724 28,841 20,741 85,306 237,870 
			 Applications Cleared 19,832 16,011 13,610 49,453 100,684 
			   of which:Maintenance Calculations 11,807 9,975 7,890 29,672 60,200 
			 Closures(2) 8,025 6,036 5,720 19,781 40,484 
			 First Payments made through the Agency 3,978 3,503 3,992 11,473 17,098 
			 First Child Maintenance Premium payments made 2,108 1,915 2,150 6,173 9,564 
		
	
	
		
			 Agency Performance(January 2004 to March 2004) January 2004 February 2004 March 2004 Total inQuarter Scheme toMarch 2004 
		
		
			 Applications Received 27,950 24,680 31,022 83,652 321,522 
			 Applications Cleared 16,418 16,316 18,318 (1)51,876 (1)152,560 
			   of which:Maintenance Calculations 9,803 9,780 10,931 (1)31,229 (1)91,429 
			 Closures(2) 6,615 6,536 7,387 (1)20,647 (1)61,131 
			 First Payments made through the Agency 4,193 4,284 5,540 14,017 31,115 
			 First Child Maintenance Premium payments made 2,283 2,220 2,981 7,484 17,048 
		
	
	Notes:
	(1)   Quarter 4 totals and Scheme to March 2004 figures include clerical cases (new scheme cases unable to be progressed on the new system) which are not included in the month-by-month figures. Figures for these are as follows:  Applications cleared824  Maintenance Calculations 715  Closures  109
	(2)   Closures: Applications close for a variety of reasons. The main reasons are that the parent with care withdraws the application, perhaps due to reconciliation, or having agreed private arrangements with the non-resident parent.
	(3)   Figures marked with * are not available on a monthly basis for this period.
	A proportion of cases that have a maintenance calculation in place may already be receiving payment directly, but will not be reflected in the figures shown above.
	Figures for child maintenance premium payments include an estimate of the number of parents who receive the premium by way of a disregard to their income support/income-based jobseekers allowance. The disregard has been added from August as data were not available prior to this, and has also been included in the scheme to date figure.

Pension Credit

Andrew Smith: I can now provide latest monthly progress report on the take-up of pension credit, which became payable on 6 October 2003.
	There are now 2.40 million pensioner households (2.91 million individuals) being paid pension credit, including 138,000 pension credit households (176,000 individuals) added in March. This is the greatest monthly increase in the number of pension credit households (so far to date) and means that we have met our published target for the end of March. As at 31   March, there are 1.74 million households (2.09 million individuals) now receiving more money as a result of the introduction of pension credit. The pension credit application line, at our four sites across the country, has received millions of calls since it became operational on 7 April 2003 and 95 per cent. of calls have been answered within 30 seconds. The average pension credit award is £41.34 per week.
	Our direct mail campaign is continuing, supported by a major advertising campaign on TV and in the press. By the end of this month we will have written to every pensioner household in the country to tell them about pension credit. We are continuing to work with organisations such as Help The Aged, Age Concern and Citizens Advice, among others, both at national and local level, to encourage eligible people to take up their entitlement. In particular, the pension service is focusing on those customers who are less likely to take up their entitlement.
	There is plenty of time for pensioners to apply for pension credit. To ensure that pensioners do not lose out there is a twelve-month backdating provision, as announced in the Budget statement. This will allow applications to be backdated for a year, or to the date entitlement begins if this is later.
	I am placing in the Library a report showing progress so far, including regional breakdowns of the number of pension credit households and numbers of pension credit cards in parliamentary constituencies in Great Britain. Copies of the report are also available for hon. Members in the Vote Office.